Forgotten Memories

Chapter 4

Cole lay in bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark and sighed. Perhaps it was best for him to move on from Arael. She would only cause him more and more pain the longer he waited for her. She would kill him slowly from the inside or she would drive him insane for good. He groaned and sat up, dropping his head into his hands. If he didn't get her to remember him he would never have a queen for his land. She was the only woman he wanted by his side. No one else could compare to her. He didn't want anyone else. No one else was ever going to be enough to replace her.

Cole looked up as someone burst into his room and the wind got knocked out of him as his body was knocked back onto the bed by a small blur of motion. He smiled as he saw the soft blonde waves he was all to familiar with.

"I remember you. Cole, I remember. I was in bed, asleep and I had this dream about you and it all came back. I remember. I love you, Cole. I love you so much",she told him as she sobbed into his bare chest. He rubbed her back as he smiled like a child on Christmas morning.

"I love you too, little bird. More than you can imagine. More than I've ever loved anything in the universe. You're my everything",he whispered as tears ran down his cheeks as well. He pulled back slightly and leaned down to kiss her. It was all he had wanted to do for months. He wanted to taste her, feel her, hold her, make her his over and over again.

Before his lips could touch hers though he heard her gasp. He pulled away as she started coughing up blood and clawing at her chest. His eyes widened in horror as she gasped for air while breathing in the blood she was choking on.

"Arael! Arael, what's going on? What's happened? Did someone hurt you? We'll get help, you'll be okay",he said as he frantically pushed her hair out her face and began trying to help her lean forward to get the blood out so she could breathe. He heard her starting to laugh and grew confused. It was her voice but it was more of a wet, gurgling cackle than the beautiful laugh he was used to. His veins ran cold as she looked up, her eyes were completely black and she had dark rings around her eyes with black veins across her skin. She lifted her hand and plunged her fist into her chest. He watched in horror as she ripped her own heart out and ate it.

"No!",Cole screamed as he shot up in his bed. His sheets were soaked and so was his body from sweating. It felt like someone had thrown a very large bucket of water over him after he had sprinted a marathon.

"Just another nightmare",he muttered quietly to himself. Shaking his head, he got out of bed to shower and change. As he stood in the shower he closed his eyes and tried to fight off the image of Arael pulling her heart out of her chest and biting into it. It was the most real nightmare he had had yet and it terrified him. He knew it wasn't real but his heart ached not being near her after seeing something so brutal happen to her regardless of whether it was real or not. The ache felt hollow and painful. It wasn't just emotional pain, he could feel it physically hurting him to not be able to hold her, kiss her, touch her, or even talk to her.

He needed to see her. To know she was okay. To know his little bird was alive and well. He needed to know Arael, his real Arael, was safe and that he hadn't lost her again.

He got out of the shower and got dressed  in a hurry before opening his door and quietly making his way to Arael's room. He just wanted to peak in. Just see that she was there. Then he would go back to his room. He carefully opened the door, not wanting to make any noise and wake her. There she was, sleeping peacefully on the far side of the bed. She looked so small and vulnerable in the giant bed she lay in. Her light, borderline white, blonde hair lay around her head creating a halo around her face. Her soft pink lips were slightly parted as she breathed. His eyes stared in awe at her beauty. Her long lashes brushed against her cheeks. She had such soft, light skin he feared if anyone so much as brushed against her, she would bruise.

His breath caught in his throat as he looked at her. She was so perfect. Nothing would ever be able to compare to her beauty. He made his way over to her bed quietly and leaned down to place a light kiss her forehead, allowing his lips to linger on her skin slightly as he breathed in the smell of her. It was the first time his lips had touched any part of her since she had come back and he didn't want it to end. He wanted to be near her, hold her and kiss her forever or at least until he passed out from lack of oxygen and even then, once he woke up he would kiss her once more. He knew if he hovered over her much longer she would sense someone near her and so he reluctantly pulled away from her. No amount of will power was enough at that point to get him to leave and so he gave in to his need to be close to her and he lay down on the floor. He would just wake up early to leave before she saw him and got freaked out by him sleeping in her room without her knowing. Even on the freezing, hard ground with no pillow or blanket, he was more comfortable than he was when he was away from her. With nightmares that were now more bearable, he managed to get more sleep than he had in months.

When Cole woke up in the morning he found a soft blanket over him and a pillow under his head. He turned his head into the pillow breathing in deeply as he recognised it as Arael's scent. A sof groan left his lips as he took in as much of the intoxicating smell as he could. He shot up as he realised he hadn't gotten up early to leave her room before her. She wasn't in the room and he winced, knowing she probably thought him a creep now after seeing him in her room uninvited. He groaned.

Getting up, he made his way back to his room, feeling like he was doing the walk of shame. He got changed before heading down to the kitchen where he found Arael sitting at a chair by the table. He rubbed the back of his neck as he slowly made his way over to the chair across from her, nearly turning to run several times.

"How did you sleep last night?",she asked him casually, as if she knew nothing. He knew, however, that she was going to bring it up sooner or later.